Christophe Hardiquest, the Belgian chef who closed restaurant Bon Bon at the end of June will take over the helm of La Mere Germaine, a restaurant in Chateauneuf-du-Pape in France. He has also announced that he will be reopening Bon Bon, the two Michelin star restaurant in Brussels but with a new format.
The chef shocked the Brussels culinary scene earlier this year when he announced the closure of restaurant Bon Bon to pursue other projects. He had said that he wanted to create new projects and not necessarily put all his focus and energy on one restaurant. The Belgian chef was always present in his restaurant when it was open which meant he was constrained from pursuing other projects.
He has taken the time during the pandemic to reflect on his future and the future of gastronomy and the new projects are an indication that he is coming back with even more energy.
After a short-break, the Belgian chef has announced that he will reopen the old restaurant Bon Bon in a completely different manner. The cuisine will be more casual and the staff will be reduced. The restaurant will have 22 covers. At the same time, he will also take the helm of La Mere Germaine on 3 August.
He said that France remains a reference in terms of gastronomy and it was important for him to establish a presence there. He will be focusing on creating a contemporary Provence cuisine.
Like in Brussels, the focus will be a vegetable based cuisine with a focus on ‘intelligent proteins’ which he considers to be local meat coming from selected growers while focusing on climate change, the terroir and also fun.
Over the past few weeks, he has been researching the cuisine of Provence so that he can recreate both tradition and modernity in his dishes.
He said that when he was speaking of Provence, he was looking at Nice, Marseille, Chateauneuf du Pape and Avignon. He aims to focus on nose to tail cooking using produce that is often not served in restaurants. His aim is to educate customers and also make them discover new products.
Christophe will be taking part of the team from Brussels to join French colleagues at the restaurant. He intends to travel to and from Brussels, a change from the old Bon Bon when he was always present at the restaurant.
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